Author

One might argue our political climate now resembles a smoking pile of rubble. Some of us might long for the lush foliage of the Washington swamp while still others would welcome the DC rubble be scooped up and hauled away leaving behind a governmental desert. Neither climate would nurture our democracy. As one of the oldest liberal democracies on the planet, we have much to be proud of and preserve. Neither the vigorous and vicious far right nor the ineffectual and elite extreme left, have the answer. It will require a gathering and concentration of sensible and, yes moderate, ideas if our rare and precious democracy is to survive.
I am heartened by a group in congress called “Problem Solvers Caucus.” This group claims to work across the aisle toward cooperation. I can only hope their lofty goal is real and succeeds. We are not a country of extremes. Most of us are neither wealthy nor poor. Few of us are one single race, or ethnicity, and plenty of us identify as other in some way that 20 years ago would have seemed impossible. “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried,” said Winston Churchill. Let’s work together to consider moderate compromising points of view. We all need to vote and work for these ideals. When did sensible become a dirty word? We really need the phoenix of moderate ideas to rise out of the ashes of loud angry rhetoric and save our country.